HIERONYMI FABRICII
AB
AQUAPENDENTE
De formatione Ovi et Pulli.
Patavii MDCXXV
Sumptibus Antonii Meglietti

GIROLAMO FABRIZI d’ACQUAPENDENTE
The formation of the egg and of the chick
Padua 1625
At expenses of Antonio Meglietti

[1] De
Formatione Ovi Pennatorum.
Pennati Uterorum Historia.
Pars Prima: Caput Primum.

First part
The formation of the eggs of the birds
Chapter I
Description of the uteri of the bird

Instrumentorum seminis tractationem proxime formationis foetus tractatio consequitur. Ea enim lege semen gignitur, ut ex eo foetus procreetur. Animalium autem foetus, alius ex ovo, alius ex semine, alius ex putri gignitur; unde alia ovipara, alia vivipara, alia ex putri, seu sponte naturae nascentia αὐτόματα Graece dicuntur. Aristot.[1] aliam formationis foetus speciem ponit, cartilagineorum piscium, qui partim ovipari, partim vivipari sunt: quia, cum ovum intra se gignant, foras vivum foetum pariunt. Sed haec diversa a propositis non est, sed potius mixta, aut ex oviparo, et viviparo composita, ut ostendimus in libro nostro de formato foetu in picturis.

The treatment of the formation of the fetus immediately follows the treatment of the instruments of the semen. In fact the semen is produced so that the fetus is procreated from it. Some fetuses of animals are born from the egg, others from the semen, others from putrid matter. Thence some animals are called oviparous, others viviparous, others born from the rotten matter, that is, for a spontaneous act of nature, in Greek are called autómata - spontaneous. Aristotle* suggests another type of formation of the fetus, that of the cartilaginous fishes, partly oviparous, partly viviparous, for although engendering an egg within themselves, they give birth outside to a living fetus. But this manner is not different from the listed ones, on the contrary is mixed, or better, composed by an oviparous and by a viviparous, as I show in the iconography of my book on the already formed fetus.

Nos de omni formatione dicemus. In hac re, ut video, natura imprimis de loco fuit solicita, quem aut in animali, aut extra animal constituit: atque in animali uterum esse voluit, extra vero ovum: in utero quidem ex semine, et sanguine; in ovo vero ex iis, quae in ipso consistunt, foetus generationem molita est. Quare si intentio nostra est in praesentia agere de foetus formatione, de utraque agendum est, initio ab ea, quae ab ovo procedit, desumpto. Haec enim omnem aliam tractationem praecedere omnino debet: tum quia ex hac Aristo. opinionis intelligentia non difficulter elicitur, et habetur: tum quia tractatio formationis foetus ex ovo amplissima est, et altera longe latior, et difficilior.

I shall speak of all the types of generation. On this point, as I realize, first of all the nature has been attentive in choosing the place she established to be either inside the animal or outside the animal, and she wanted that in the animal there was the uterus, but the egg on its outside. Actually she foretold that the generation of the fetus in the uterus comes from the semen and from the blood, while in the egg it comes from the structures present in it. Therefore if at present it is my intention to treat the formation of the fetus, we have to treat both the types of formation, starting from that beginning from the egg. In fact this absolutely has to precede every other treatment: both because from this the understanding of the opinion of Aristotle is gathered without difficulty and we acquire it, and because the treatment of the formation of the fetus from the egg is very wide, and more wide and difficult than the other.

Amplissimam autem esse formationis foetus ex ovis contemplationem ex eo patet, quod maxima animalium pars ex ovis gignitur. Nam ut insecta ferme omnia, et imperfectiora omittam animalia, quae ex ovo fieri sensui apparet; ex perfectioribus quoque, maxima pars ex ovis gignitur. Etenim primum ex volatilibus, omnia pennata, ex aquatilibus vero, si sola cetacea excipias, caetera omnia, pisces omnes, item crustacea omnia, et mollia, et testacea ovipara sunt: ex terrestribus, vero sola nonnulla quadrupedia, et homines vivum foetum edunt; caetera ut reptilia, multipedia[2], et serpentia omnia, sunt ovipara, [2] sicuti inter quadrupedia omne lacertorum genus. Quod si singularia quaedam excipiantur, ea, enunciationes veras esse, non tollunt.

Actually the investigation about the formation of the fetus from the egg is very wide because the majority of the animals arises from the eggs. In fact, omitting almost all the insects and the most defective animals that for perceptible experience come from the egg, also the majority of those more perfect arises from the eggs. In fact if from flying animals in first place all the feathered ones are excluded and from the aquatic ones only the cetaceans, all other animals, all fishes and likewise all crustaceans lay eggs, both soft and endowed with shell. Among the terrestrial animals only some quadrupeds and the human beings give birth to a living fetus; the other animals, as the reptiles, the myriapods and all the snakes are oviparous, as among the quadrupeds is oviparous every kind of lizard. But if some single animals are excluded, they don't remove the fact that the statements are true.

De Pulli autem procreatione antequam dicere instituo, prius de ovi generatione omnino praemittenda disputatio est, quandoquidem in pennato duplex quodammodo conceptus fit, ovi, et pulli. Utriusque suus uterus est: pulli quidem ovum; ovi autem quod in pennata faemina, intus proprium organum positum est, quod ego perpetuo ovarium appellabo; quousque a probato auctore alio nomine appellatum, inveniam. Ovi hic locus, seu uterus, seu matrix, duplex est, alius superior, alius inferior. Superior uterus prope thoracem est ad pennati spinam sub iecore, et pulmonibus statim, et supra magnam tum venam, tum arteriam[3].

However, before I begin to speak of the generation of the chick, first of all it is necessary to prefix the treatment about the generation of the egg, since in a bird a double conception is practically occurring, of the egg and of the chick. Their uterus exists of both: for the chick the egg, for the egg that specific organ that in the female of a bird is set inside and always I will call ovary until I won't find it otherwise called by a competent author. This seat of the egg, whether called uterus or matrix, is double, one upper and one lower. The upper uterus lies close to the thorax near the spine of the bird, immediately below the liver and the lungs, and over both the great vein and the great artery.

Arist. 6. de hist. anim. cap. 2.[4] dicit ad septum transversum ovum inchoari: nos autem in respirationis tractatu negavimus pennata septum obtinere. Solvitur dubium, pennata septo prorsus non destitui, quia membranam[5] habent tenuem loco septi positam, quam Arist.[6] cinctum, et septum appellavit: sed non habent septum, quod musculus sit, et ad respirationem conferat, ut alia animalia. Aristoteles autem musculum non agnovit. Inferior uterus sub primo statim ad spinam similiter ponitur, et utrinque etiam ad lumbos, sed ad podicem usque descendit; ibique a sinistris finitur.

Aristotle in Historia animalium VI,2 says that the egg starts in proximity of the diaphragm, but in the treatise on respiration I affirmed that the birds don't have a diaphragm. The doubt is solved: the birds are not completely devoid of diaphragm, being that they have a thin membrane there where the diaphragm is, which Aristotle called cincture and septum; but they don't have, like the other animals, a septum made up by muscle and useful for the respiration. Actually Aristotle didn't know a muscle. Likewise the lower uterus is located below the first one, immediately near the spine as well as near the loins on both sides, but it goes down until the cloaca and here it ends on the left side.

Superior matrix nil aliud est, quam infinita propemodum vitellorum multitudo, quae in uno veluti acervo conglobata conspicitur, rotundae figurae, et cuiusvis magnitudinis, in qua a minimo ad maximum ea intercedit differentia, quae est a grano sinapis ad fructum fere nucis iuglandis, aut mespili.

The superior uterus is nothing but an almost endless multitude of yolks grouped together as in a single heap, endowed with round shape and of any size varying from a minimum to a maximum between a grain of mustard* and approximately a fruit of walnut-tree or of medlar*.

Haec vitellorum multitudo simul quasi racematim apposita, collecta, et coniuncta est; ob quam causam ego perpetuo vitellarium, aut vitellorum racemum appellabo, cum indecorum ut Celsus loquitur[7], hoc est sine nomine, ab antiquis relictum esse hoc organum videam. Satius autem forte fuerit vitellarium appellare corpus vitellos expullulans, ac producens, hoc est vitellorum fundamentum; racemum vero tum corpus praedictum, tum vitellos racematim appensos, qui Graecis vitellorum βότρυς dici potest, et nostris quoque botrus. Appello autem hanc partem racemum, quia uvarum racemo quam simillima est. Quod et Arist. 3. de gen. an. cap. 8. dixit[8], cum ait: reddunturque ova eorum glutino cohaerentia ad speciem uvae. Etenim sicuti in racemo uvae {seu} acini sunt tum maiores, tum minores, tum minimi, singuli suo pediolo appensi; sic in proposito vitellorum racemo videre est.

This crowd of yolks is placed, gathered and conjoined almost like a cluster, that's why I will always call it vitellarium or vitellorum racemus - cluster of yolks, since I notice that this ugly organ, as Celsus* says, has been left without name by ancients. But perhaps it would be better to call vitellarium a structure that makes sprout and produce yolks, that is, the point of origin of the yolks, and to call racemus - cluster - both the above-mentioned structure and the yolks arranged as a cluster which by Greeks can be said bótrys - cluster - of yolks, and also botrus - grape's cluster - by our fellow countrymen. Actually I call this part racemus since it is very similar to a cluster of grape. And Aristotle also told this in De generatione animalium III,8 when he affirms: their eggs are aggregated by a sticky substance as being grape. And in fact as in a cluster of grape the grapes sometimes are greater, sometimes smaller, sometimes dwarfish, every one suspended to its own stalk, the same it is possible to see in the described cluster of yolks.

Hic vero pediolus nil aliud est, quam membranosum corpus, seu nexus robustus cavatus, qui a racemi fundamento ad vitellum producitur, quem cum contingit, dilatatur, et perinde ac nervus opticus in oculo amplificatus, vitellum externa tunica obducit, nec quidem totum vitellum circundat, sed paulo illum ultra medietatem comprehendit; perinde ut in glande operculum retro appositum, calix appellatum; quo fit, ut exterior vitelli portio a proposita membrana destituta conspectui sese offerat sine venis, et nudata appareat. Huius membranae exactam quantitatem discernes per vestigium orbiculare, quod in perfecto vitello visitur, quando membrana suis terminis a vitello laxari, et resolvi incipit: tunc enim denudati vitelli vestigium quasi zona vitellum cingens apparet.

But this stalk is nothing but a membranous structure or the strong hollow connection extending from the base of the cluster to the yolk, and it dilates when reaching it, and as if being the optic nerve that widened in the eye, it surrounds the yolk with an external tunic, and it doesn't totally surround the yolk, but it winds it a little more than half, like the cover called cup does in an acorn, being leant at the back. Then it happens that the external part of the yolk, without the described membrane, offers itself to the eyes without veins and appears naked. You will realize the exact extension of this membrane by a circular vestige that is observed in a completed yolk when the membrane begins to grow loose and to free itself from the yolk in correspondence of its periphery. In fact then a trace of the naked yolk appears as if being a girdle surrounding the yolk.

Huius pedunculi, et dimidiatae membranae [3] beneficio increscens vitellus, quasi suspensus, et caeteris elatior detinetur. Qui sane pedunculus etiam secum multa vasa in vitellum deducit, quorum maiora per pediolum discurrentia subinde in vitellum propagantur, ac disseminantur. Porum hunc, seu fistulosum canalem, qui [vitellarios] vitellarii singulos coniungit, et suspensos detinet vitellos, perpetuo pediculum, pediolum, et pedunculum appellabo, quod fructuum pediculo quam simillimus sit; quem forte Arist. 3. de gen. an. cap. 2.[9] στόλον {ὀμφαλώδην} <ὀμφαλώδη>, hoc est appendiculam umbilicalem, et veluti fistulam nuncupavit; licet non ex omni parte descriptio competat, forte propter secundi uteri ignorationem.

The yolk, increasing thanks to this peduncle and the dimidiate membrane, is maintained almost suspended and more elevated than the others. Actually this peduncle also brings with itself many vessels in the yolk, the larger of them, by flowing through the petiole, subsequently propagate and spread in the yolk. This passage, or tubular channel, connecting the single yolks of the cluster and maintaining them suspended, I will always call pediculus, pediolus and pedunculus, since it is extremely similar to the petiole of the fruits. Perhaps Aristotle in De generatione animalium III,2 called it stólon omphalødë - navel shaped prominence, that is, umbilical appendix similar to a tube. Although the description is not fully suitable, perhaps because of the lack of knowledge of the second uterus.

Vitelli autem in racemo maiores in circuitu sunt, minores in medio, ceu a maioribus circundati, denique minimi omnibus subiecti: rursusque minimi duriores, ac caeteris validiores: ideoque vitelli iustam magnitudinem adepti mollissimi omnium sunt. Prodeunt hi a suo fundamento, quod est corpus quoddam sui generis, ex semine a primordiis ad pennati spinam ob ortum, fixum, obfirmatumque, quod temperie a mediocritate vix recedit, colore potius albescens; consistentia inter molle est, et durum, sed tamen laxum et porosum; figura rotunditati aemulum; numero unum; uniforme, et magnitudine moderatum, sed oblongum, et in summitate amplificatum, ut plurimos, numerososque vitellos ex se producat, prius singulari pediolo singulis expullulato. Hoc sane corpus substantiae proprietate vitellos expullulare, generare, et ex sanguine producere aptum est; idque non solum privatum, quo se ipsum nutrit, sed etiam publicum agens munus, speciei propagationi, et conservationi substituitur, ovoque initium exhibet, et praebet, vitellos ante omnia efformando.

Besides in the cluster the yolks are greater in the periphery, are smaller in the middle part, as surrounded by the greater ones, finally the dwarfish ones are placed under all of them. Besides the dwarfish ones are harder and more solid than the others, then the yolks that reached the correct size are the softest of all of them. These escape from their base, a quite particular structure, because of the constant and stable birth from the semen starting from the primordial elements placed near the spine of the bird, and that for structure just strays from the right, being of rather whitish colour. For consistence - this structure - is between the soft and the hard, but nevertheless it is soft and porous, for the aspect emulates the roundness, is only one in number, is uniform and of moderate size, but lengthened and magnified at the summit so that it produces any amount of yolks and numerous yolks, before for each one the own peduncle is formed. Actually this structure, for the characteristics of the substance constituting it, is proper for to bud, to generate and to produce yolks from the blood. And besides it undertakes the propagation and the maintenance of the species, not only carrying out a private task thanks to which it nourishes itself, but also a public one, and it causes the beginning of the egg and provokes it by moulding the yolks before all the other things.

Hi vitelli sicuti initio a parvulo incipiunt, ceu milii, aut sinapis magnitudine, et minuti sunt ac candidi, ut dicit Arist. 6. de hist. an. cap. 2.[10] sic subinde paullatim increscunt, et ut ait Arist. lutei ac flavi efficiuntur, quousque ad iustam magnitudinem omnibus notam perveniant. Hoc tempore iam a suo pedunculo, ac tota eiusdem membrana, amplificatione eorum attenuata, separantur, abrupta a pediculo exporrecta eiusdem membrana, separatione hac ita facta ambo, hoc est tum pedusculus, tum membrana paulo post contrahuntur, et in suum fundamentum, nimirum corpus, a quo producta sunt, retrahuntur, eique associantur atque coniunguntur, quasi in pristinam naturam conversa; ubi videre interdum est huiusmodi tunicas abruptas tres, quatuorve; quae uti, dum vitellum involvebant maxime distentae tenuissimaeque apparebant; ita abruptae, et contractae, atque in proprium corpus reversae, quasi uterus effoetus, ad pristinam naturalem magnitudinem redeunt.

Like these yolks start from a very small initial structure, of the size of a corn of mile* or of mustard*, and they are small and white, as Aristotle says in Historia animalium VI,2, so subsequently they increase gradually, and, as Aristotle says, they become yellow and golden, up to reach the correct dimension known to everybody. In this moment, their growth being reduced, by now they separate from their pedicle and from all its membrane, its wide membrane having detached itself from the peduncle, and after this separation is so realized, they both, that is both the pedicle and the membrane soon after contract and withdraw in their point of origin, that is, the structure whence they produced themselves, and they join it and unite to it, almost they came back to the original shape. Where sometimes it happens to see three or four of such broken tunics, which until surrounding the yolk appeared extremely widespread and very thin. So broken and refold, and turned on their structure as being a post-partum uterus, they return to the natural primitive size.

Vitellus vero unica propria, et ea quidem tenuissima tunica obductus, in membranosam, ac latiorem cavitatem infundibuli formam aemulantem devolvitur; atque ita quasi per tubulum in secundum uterum descendit, atque ingreditur. Hoc enim foramen tubae, et infundibulo est simile, quam ob causam infundibulum appello, quod latissimo principio ad vitellarium sit, inde vero collum eius sequatur, membranoso parieti ad sinistram obfirmatum, et deorsum descendens, quousque in uteri principium finiat, et vitellos subinde laxatos, et a sua membrana resolutos, cadentesque excipiat, ita ut vitelli singula vice singuli in secundum iam dictum uterum perveniant. Est autem hic secundus uterus memorato [4] admodum dissimilis, quem non modo inferiorem, et secundum libet appellare, sed etiam totius ovi uterum; propterea quod etsi in eo vitellus non gignitur, recipitur tamen; tum vero reliquae ovi partes excepto vitello in eo corporantur, ut Albumen, chalazae[11], membranae duae, et ovi putamen, ut infra dicetur.

But the yolk, covered by an its own unique tunic, and very thin indeed, rolls into a membranous and rather great cavity reminding the shape of a funnel; and so it goes down in the second uterus so to say through a small duct and enters. In fact this opening resembles a trumpet and a funnel, that's why I call it infundibulum* - funnel, since it is in proximity of the ovary with a wide initial part; and then its neck follows, joined toward the left side to a membranous wall and falling downward up to finish in the initial part of the uterus, and it receives the yolks as they free themselves and release themselves from their membrane and fall, so that the yolks come one by one in the just quoted second uterus. Actually this second uterus is very different from the quoted one and I like to call it inferior and second, but also uterus of the whole egg, since, even if the yolk is not produced in it, still it is received here. Then the remaining parts of the egg are formed here, except the yolk, that is, the albumen, the chalazae, the two membranes and the shell of the egg, as I shall tell later.

Igitur hic secundus uterus membranosus est, albus, tenuis, mollis, extensibilis, cavus, amplus, oblongus valde, et flatu si impleatur, amplissimus, et longissimus, [anfractibusque] anfractuosusque quasi spiris refertus; quae intestinorum spiras concinne aemulantur: ideoque transverse ab uno ad alterum latus ducuntur, hoc videlicet modo, nequaquam per longitudinem seu sursum, deorsumque porrectae, videlicet sic {,}<.> Sunt autem tres ad summum spirae, et nequaquam sibi ipsis omnes similes, sed conformatione dissimiles. Nam in inferna parte paulo supra, quam ubi ovum perfectum, et absolutum consistit, corticemque assumit, angustatur, partim rursus latescit hoc corpus, atque in latissima parte ovum iustam magnitudinem adeptum consistit; inde per angustiorem porum descendens, tandem prope podicem finitur, ubi foramen adest, unde ovum exit.

Then, this second uterus is membranous, white, thin, soft, extensible, hollow, wide and very long, and if filled with a puff it would be very wide and very long and tortuous as being full of coils exactly imitating the loops of the intestines. Insofar they are transversally extended from side to side, that is, in the following way, absolutely not extending themselves according to the length or aloft and downwards, that is, in the following way: at the most the coils are three and all of them are not at all similar each other, but they differ in the shape. In fact in the lowest part, few above where the ended and finished egg stops and becomes covered by the shell, this structure partly becomes narrow and newly widens, and in the widest part there is the egg that took the correct dimension. Then, going down by a rather narrow duct, through it finally ends in proximity of the cloaca where is an opening whence the egg goes out.

Prima igitur spira, quae superius ad foramen est, in quod vitellus primo cadit, transverse procedit, et prope lumbos finitur: sed ea parte, quae ad foramen, seu infundibulum est, ligamentum oblique sursum producitur ad racemum, cuius fundamento a lumbi sinistro latere, ubi Ren subiicitur, validissime annectitur: quod sane ligamentum uti supra finitur, ita a podice ad ovarium recta sursum secundum uteri longitudinem protenditur uteri superficiei perpetuo annexum: verisimileque est, ligamentum non solum foraminis oram servare supra appensam, sed etiam patentem: perinde ac si manus sacculi oram apprehendens eius orificium teneat apertum, ad frumentum deorsum immittendum. Inferior autem spira, et uteri pars quae ad podicem terminatur, siquis sine dissectione eam inflando consideret, quae podici propinqua est, quasi tubulum contortum, seu inflexum videre sibi videbitur; sed qui paulo post veluti in amplissimam vesicam migret.

Insofar the first coil, located above near the opening in which the yolk firstly goes to fall, is transversally turned and ends in proximity of the loins; but in that part near the opening, or infundibulum, a ligament takes shape going sideways aloft toward the cluster, at whose base, placed at the left lumbar side, where the kidney is, merges very firmly, and this ligament, as is going to end aloft, so from the cloaca until the ovary stretches out directly aloft according to the length of the uterus, constantly joint to the surface of the uterus. And it is likely that the ligament not only preserves displaced in high place the opening of the hole, but also keeps it open, as if a hand seizing the opening of a pouch keeps its orifice open to be able to introduce down some wheat. The inferior coil and that part of the uterus ending in the cloaca, if someone examines it inflating it without sectioning it, that coil which is near the cloaca almost will seem similar to a twisted or bent little tube, but that soon after goes to end in a very wide bladder.

Neque vero aer a podicis foramine immissus, seu insufflatus sursum per uterum permeat, sed ab huiusmodi inflexionibus detinetur, quibus dissectione amplificatis, et laxatis, iam permeat. Membrana autem, ex qua conformatur hic uterus, non ubique similis est, sed alibi tenuior, alibi crassior{;}<.> Etenim tam in superna, quam in inferna parte, videlicet superiore ad ultimum primae spirae terminum; in inferiore vero usque ad locum, ubi ovum absolutum factum degit, corticemque contrahit, tenuioris substantiae est, quam reliquus uterus; ita ut haec duo extrema ad uterum intermedium comparata, simplices membranae videantur.

And neither the introduced air or blown through the cloacal orifice is able to flow aloft through the uterus, but is kept by these folds, and after having widened and freed them with the dissection, then it flows. The membrane by which this uterus is done is not the same in all points, but in some is thinner, in others is thicker. In fact both in tallest and in lowest part, that is, in the upper part near the terminal trait of the first coil and in the inferior part until the point where the completed egg lies and acquires the shell, it is made of a thinner tissue in comparison to the remaining uterus, so that these two extreme parts, compared with the middle part of the uterus, seem not very firm membranes.

Simplicissima autem, ac tenuissima membrana apparet ad infundibulum totum, (quod ideo sic a me nuncupatur, quia in principio incipit a latiore parte ut infundibulum, et deinde sequitur collum, ut in infundibulo). Totum autem hoc corpus constatur ex membrana tenui mollissima, et laevigatissima, quae vitellum statim excipit. Incipit autem infundibuli ora a vitellorum racemo ampla latitudine, deinde recta per collum deorsum fertur perpetuo alteri membranae firmiori appensum, et adhaerens: quod sane collum paulo post terminatur in secundi uteri principium, quod appello ubi infundibulum desinit: inibi enim uterus propriam substantiam [5] suscipit.

Then the membrane appears very few consistent and very thin in correspondence of the whole infundibulum (which therefore is so called by me, since in the initial part it starts with a rather wide part as a funnel, and then a neck follows, like in a funnel). This whole structure is composed by a very soft thin and very smooth membrane which immediately receives the yolk. The edge of the funnel begins from the wide cluster of the yolks, then directly goes downwards through the neck which is always suspended to another firmer membrane, and it sticks to it. Soon after this neck finishes in the initial part of the second uterus, that I define as the point where the funnel ends: in fact really here the uterus is structured with its tissue.

Intermedius autem uterus crassior est, et in nervosum nexum degenerat, illis intersectionibus non dissimilem, quae in recto abdominis musculo conspiciuntur. Haec exterius in inferno, et totius ovi utero observantur. Intus autem in huius uteri cavitate perinde ac in interna intestinorum facie, plicae permultae transversae, et insignes adnotantur, sed plures, et maiores in medio, et crassiori utero visuntur: ubi etiam per totam eius longitudinem albuminis exigua portio subinde in singulis plicis contineri conspicitur.

Actually the middle part of the uterus is thicker and turns into an interlacement rich in fibres, not dissimilar from those intersections seen in the rectus abdominis muscle. These things are observed externally in the inferior uterus belonging to the completed egg. Internally in the cavity of this uterus, just as in the internal surface of the intestines, many folds are seen transversally arranged and of marked dimensions, but they appear in greater number and of greater dimensions in the middle and thicker part of the uterus, where also in its whole length is seen that often a small quantity of albumen is contained in each fold.

Porrigitur hic secundus totius ovi uterus a supernis partibus ad podicem usque, sicuti dictum est, in quo podice tria notatu digna apparent. Unum est quod tria sunt foramina in podice insculpta, dextrum, sinistrum, et medium; dextrum urinae, medium faecibus, sinistrum ovorum excretioni destinatur. Alterum illud est, quod, in gallina dum suffocaretur, exterius protuberasse podicem, vidimus, maxime autem ad sinistram partem, atque illud tantum orificium conspicuum factum esse, quod Galli penem, semenque admittit: ex quo datur intelligi, dum gallus coit, gallinam hoc orificium exterius voluntario exponere, retro scilicet, sursumque uropygio retracto, id quod etiam intuentibus apparet. Namque ego domi Indicam teneo gallinam gallum appetentem: quae, nobis super astantibus et manibus dorsum tangentibus, Gallo sese substernit, et uropygium attollit, vulvamque ostendit{.}<,> quo tempore dirigitur meatus, ut eo penis, semenque perveniat.

This second uterus of the completed egg stretches from the upper zones until the cloaca, as it was said, and in this cloaca are visible three noteworthy things. One consists in the fact that the openings carved in the cloaca are three, right, left and median. The right is devoted to the urine, the median to the faeces, the left to the issue of the eggs. The other thing is that in a hen, while it was strangled, I have seen the cloaca to stick outside, above all at the left side, and that became showy only that opening which allows the penis and the semen of the rooster to enter. From this it can be understood that, while the rooster joins, the hen voluntarily does this orifice to protrude outside, obviously moving back and aloft the uropygial gland*, which is also evident to the observers. In fact at home I have a turkey hen desirous of the male, which, when we stand by her and touch her back with our hands, stretches under the turkey, lifts the uropygial gland and shows the vulva. Meanwhile the opening arranges itself in such a way that the penis and the sperm come to it.

Tertium quod in podice est adnotandum, est duplex vesicula, quae in ima eius parte ad os pubis supereminet, et conspicua, exteriorque apparet, simulatque uterus iam propositus conspectui sese offert; quae cum sit pervia, {itaut} <ita ut> ab ano ad ipsum uterum, et ab utero in ipsam, ut puta superius, infra foramen pateat, ex altero autem extremo clausa sit, hanc existimavimus esse locum, in quem gallus semen immittit[12], porrigitque ut inibi servetur.

The third thing we have to point out in the cloaca is a double vesicle which in its lower part is located above and in proximity of the pubic bone, and shows a great and prominent aspect as soon as the already described uterus offers itself to the sight. And this double vesicle - the bursa of Fabrizio*, being open, so that from the cloacal opening to the uterus itself, and from the uterus toward it, as aloft, an opening is well visible in the lower part, while at the other extremity it is closed, I have thought that it is the place where the rooster introduces and delivers the sperm so that it is stored there.

Postremum in hoc inferno utero contemplandum est membranosum quoddam corpus firmum, densum, venisque plurimis irrigatum, quod inferius spinae nectitur per totam eam longitudinem, quae est a vitellorum racemo ad podicem usque: superius vero per totam secundi uteri {.} longitudinem, applicatur, non dissimili ratione, ac mesenterium intestinis; unde ad illius similitudinem non inepte μεσομήτριον idest medium uterorum appellari potest.

Finally in this lower uterus should be observed a membranous structure which is strong, dense and permeated by a lot of veins, which is linked with the inferior part of the spine for that whole length going from the cluster of the yolks until the cloaca. It leans on the whole upper length of the second uterus, not unlike the mesentery does with the intestines, then, according to its similarity, it can rightly be called mesomëtrion, that is, what is among the uteri.

Revera secundus uterus una cum hoc membranoso, venosoque corpore concinne admodum intestinis, et suo mesenterio comparari potest. Etenim veluti intestina membranosa sunt oblonga, rotunda, concava, convolutaque, plicis intus referta, exteriusque in superficie innumeris pene vasis contexta: ita aeque corpus memoratum easdem obtinet conditiones. Rursus veluti intestina mesenterium adepta sunt a spina exortum, quod tum ea colligat, detinet, et conglobata, ac per spiras circumvoluta continet, ut mirari satis non possis intestinorum longitudinem, quomodo capi in abdomine possit, quando a mesenterio separata intestina sunt: sic de hoc quoque corpore, quod μεσομήτριον appellamus, mirari oportet longitudinem eius, quomodo in Gallinae Epigastrio contineri possit, si ab eo separatum conspicias, maxime autem si ipsum infles colligat praeterea, et detinet [6] totius ovi uterum, et [ne decidat] ne ovarium onustum decidat, prohibet: atque a spina ut mesenterium ortum ducit. Insuper veluti mesenterium stragulum vasorum est, quae in ipso firmata propagantur: Sic in [μεσομιτρίω] μεσομητρίῳ vasa stabiliuntur, feruntur, propagantur quoquomodo utrinque.

Indeed the second uterus, together with this membranous and rich of veins structure, can properly be compared with the intestines and their mesentery. In fact, as the membranous intestines are lengthened, rounded, concave and rolled up, internally endowed with plicae and externally interwoven in surface by an almost endless number of blood vessels, the same the structure of which we speak possesses the same characteristics. Besides, as the intestines are endowed with the mesentery that is born from the spine, which connects, binds and keeps them steady and joint, as well as rolled up in volutes, so that you cannot observe in a sufficient manner the length of the intestines, neither how it can be contained in the abdomen when the bowels are separated from the mesentery, the same also for this structure, that we call mesometrium, it is opportune to observe its length, for as it can be contained in the epigastrium of a hen if you look at the structure separated from the epigastrium, but above all if you inflate it; besides it links and joins the uterus of the ended egg, and prevents that the overloaded ovary falls, and it draws its beginning from the spine as the mesentery does. Besides, as the mesentery is a carpet of blood vessels that after having fixed propagate in it, so in the mesometrium the blood vessels unite, spread, propagate anyway and at both sides.

Ultimo usu quoque mesenterium proposito corpori, et utero respondet. Etenim veluti fit per meseraicas venas alimenti attractio, transumptioque; sic per has venas transumptio fit sanguinis ad uterum.

Also with the last function the mesentery corresponds to the described structure of mesometrium and to the uterus. In fact, as the acquisition and the transport of the food occurs through the mesenteric veins, so through these veins of mesometrium the transport occurs of blood to the uterus.

Figurarum uterorum Gallinae in quibus ovum generatur,
et perficitur Declaratio.

Caption of the images of the uteri of the hen
where the egg is generated and ended

Primae Figurae.
A A. Iecur Gallinae.
BBB. Superior uterus seu infinita vitellorum multitudo, seu ovarium.
C. Differentia minorum vitellorum ad maiores.
D. Tunica vitelli tenuissima.
EEE. Porus angustior uteri.
FFF. Inferior totius ovi uterus.
G. Prima spira transversa.
H. Terminus primae spirae.
I. Secunda spira.
K. Tertia spira quae ad podicem pertingit.
L. Mesomitrium seu membranosum corpus pluribus venis refertum.

First figure
AA – Liver of the hen.
BBB – Upper uterus, that is, endless multitude of yolks, that is, ovary.
C – Difference of the smallest yolks until the larger ones.
D – Very thin membrane of the yolk.
EEE – The narrower duct of the uterus.
FFF – Lower uterus of the ended egg.
G – First transverse coil.
H – End of the first coil.
I – Second coil.
K – Third coil reaching the cloaca.
L – Mesometrium or membranous structure crammed with veins.

Secundae Figurae.
AA: Racemus.
BB. Vitellarium seu fundamentum vitellorum, et pediolorum.
CC. Pedioli.
DD. Vestigium orbiculare pedioli quod videtur in ovo perfecto.
EE. Vasa quae discurrunt per pediolum in vitellum.
FF. Ligamentum superficiei uteri supertensum a podice ad racemum oblique decurrens.
GG. Plicae.
H. Membrana crassior uteri inferioris.
II Nexus Nervosus.
K. Pars latior secundi uteri.
L. Pars angustior.
M. Membrana tenuior ubi ovum perfectum reponitur.
N. Pars rursus latescens quae est praecedens membrana.
O. Angustior secundi uteri porus per quem ovum descendit ad podicem.
P. Ultima spira quae terminatur ad podicem instar {tuberculi} <tubuli[13]> contorti
Q. Podex.

Second figure
AA – Raceme or cluster.
BB – Vitellarium or point of origin of yolks and petioles.
CC – Petioles.
DD – Circular vestige of the petiole which is observed in a completed egg.
EE – Vessels running through the petiole until the yolk.
FF – Ligament suspended at the surface of the uterus and running sideways from cloaca to cluster.
GG – Plicae.
H – Thicker membrane of lower uterus.
II – Fibrous connection.
K – Wider portion of second uterus.
L – Narrower portion.
M – Thinner membrane where the completed egg is kept.
N – Part which newly widens and which is the previous membrane.
O – Narrower passage of the second uterus through which the egg goes down to cloaca.
P – Last coil ending in the cloaca like a twisted little tube.
Q – Cloaca.

Nota quod non apparet infundibulum quippe facile dissecando dilaceratur debet inter ovarium, et secundum uterum adnotari.

Note that the infundibulum doesn't appear because it is easily torn by the dissection and it must be placed between the ovary and the second uterus.

Figurae Podicis explicatio.

Explanation of the figure of the cloaca.

Tertiae Figurae.
A. Uropygium.
BBB. Foramina tria podici insculpta.
C. Foramen sinistrum per quod exit ovum.
D. Foramen medium faecibus dicatum.
E. Foramen dextrum urinae destinatum.
F. Vesicula in quam gallus emittit semen.

Third figure
A – Uropygium.
BBB – The three openings cut in the cloaca.
C – Left opening through which the egg comes out.
D – Median opening devoted to the faeces.
E – Right opening assigned to the urine.
F – Vesicle into which the cock lays the semen.